


reassure me (just one more time)

by paperback92



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Uncle Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 19:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19979611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperback92/pseuds/paperback92
Summary: Happy finds Spider-Man crouched between two smoking cars on the London Bridge.





	reassure me (just one more time)

Happy finds Spider-Man crouched between two smoking cars on the London Bridge. 

He’s pointed in that direction by Peter’s scary new girlfriend, who looks a lot less menacing with that dopey love sick smile replacing her usual scowl. She’s still got a tight grip on that mace though. 

“He went that way.” She informs him, pointing the weapon the way she just came. Guilt briefly flashes across her features before she schools her face into something more neutral. “I would have stayed but Mr. Harrington will lose it if I don’t get back and Peter seemed ok so-” 

Happy cuts her off with a nod of understanding. “You’re fine.” He assures her. “I’ll go get him.” 

He almost ends up walking right past the kid. It’s only the quick flash of red and black out of the corner of his eye that makes him stop. Peter’s tucked into the small space where two smashed bumpers meet. He’s balanced on the balls of his feet, masked head in his hands. 

“Spider-Man?” Happy calls out because he doesn’t want to spook him, but Peter doesn’t move. He gets closer and blanches at the sight of him. The suit’s torn to shreds. There seems to be more of the dark red patches than suit’s red coloring it. The mask is damp under the spot where Peter’s nose should be. 

“C’mon kid. We gotta go.” Peter doesn’t make any acknowledgement of hearing him. He doesn’t even twitch. So Happy gently grabs the kid’s shoulder and gives it a little shake. “We need to leave. Someone’s going to see you.” 

That finally seems to get his attention. Peter raises his head. The eye screens on the battered mask blink. “Happy?” 

Happy lets out a sigh of relief. “Yeah kid, it’s me. You with me?” 

Peter nods in a slow kind way that makes Happy think it’s not quite true, but it’s not important at the moment. Their biggest worry right now is   
leaving before they’re seen by the police, or worse, reporters.

Keeping one eye on Peter, Happy pulls out his phone and summons one of the self-driving cars that SI has in the city. Thankfully, it’s stored in a garage close to them so it only takes a few moments before it pulls up behind the police barricade. 

Happy hauls Peter up to his feet and they walk that way. Well, Happy walks. Peter limps along slowly like every new step hurts worse than the last. It takes longer than Happy would like but they finally make it under the barricade, past the gathering reporters, and to the sleek black car waiting for them. 

Peter, though, skids to a halt at the sight of it. “Happy, I can’t-” He stutters and it’s a testament to how close he’s gotten to the kid that Happy instantly realizes what Peter’s worried about. 

“There’s no driver, kid.” Happy tells him. “Just us and FRIDAY.” 

All at once, Peter lets out a grateful breath and his knees give out from under him. Happy catches him before he hits the ground. “Whoa, whoa. Just relax, kid. I’ve got you.” 

Peter says nothing but a quick glance at the slowly blinking mask shows that he’s conscious at least, if just barely. Happy practically carries him the rest of the way. Once they get to the car, he puts the kid in the back seat and slides in after him. 

It doesn’t take any time for Peter to rip off the mask and fall asleep. Happy almost feels back when they pull up to the unassuming two-story brick house that used to be Tony and Pepper’s, but is now just Pepper’s. He nudges the kid awake and Peter groans in protest, curling up tighter in the leather seat. 

“C’mon kid.” Happy prods as Peter squeezes his eyes shut tighter. “We’re here.” 

It takes a few minutes of more poking and prodding before he can get the kid to wake and mask up. He then quickly herds him out of the car and into the house where he leads them to the upstairs master bedroom. Peter pulls of his mask and Happy catches the way he’s longingly eyeing the king-size bed. 

“Nuh-uh! Shower first!” Happy snaps his fingers and Peter wilts. 

The kid turns those big watery brown eyes on him and, for a second, Happy almost relents. The kid looks absolutely pitiful. But then he catches sight of the blood still slowly oozing down Peter’s face and the tears in his suit that show the same thing happening all over the kid’s body and Happy holds his ground. 

Besides, the maids refuse to clean up any blood stains. Not after the Avengers’ incident of 2013. Happy shudders at the memory of that mess. 

“Happy.” The kid whines but he doesn’t budge. 

“Nope. Shower first.” He walks around the kid and into the adjoining bathroom. He turns the shower on and fishes out the first aid kit, setting it on the counter. “You’ll feel better if you go ahead and get clean before you crash. Trust me.” 

Peter’s wiping his eyes when Happy steps back into the room but he mention it. He just silently points to the bathroom and waits till Peter’s walked in before going to the dresser that stands over by the window. He sucks in a breath, steeling himself, before opening the top drawer. 

Happy doesn’t think there will ever be a time where thinking about Tony won’t break his heart. He’s knows that he’ll never get used to the stabbing pain that shoots through his chest at the thought of his best friend. It almost makes him angry. The sight of faded tee shirts and old sweat pants shouldn’t make him feel like this. 

It’s almost too much and a part of him wants to walk away from it all. He thinks about quitting SI. Quitting ties to anything super hero related and go back to boxing. 

But then he hears Peter crying. It’s quiet, Happy can barely hear it over the roar of the water and most likely Peter trying to smother it himself, but it’s too late. He can’t unhear it. The sound of it damns him. It tells him how selfish he’s being. He’s reminded of Peter’s red eyes on that jet just hours ago. 

He’s not the only one hurting. 

He’s needed too much to walk away. Pepper needs him. Morgan needs him. And now Peter needs him. 

Happy puts the borrowed clothes beside the first aid kit and tells the kid. Peter thanks him, his voice thick, behind the shower curtain. Happy closes the door behind him. 

He busies himself getting the room ready, feeling not unlike a maid. He only grumbles a little though, as he turns down the bed and pulls the blackout curtain. He’ll admit that it’s nice to have a task to keep his hands busy. He’s fluffing the pillows when Peter walks out of the bathroom. 

He was right; the kid already looks like he feels better. His face is clear of the blood that had stained it. He’s put a bandage over the cut on his cheek. His shoulders still slump with exhaustion, his eyes are almost clouded with it, but overall, he looks more refreshed. 

Peter doesn’t say a word to him. He just walks straight to the bed and falls face first on it with a groan. Happy can’t help but chuckle at him. “I gotta go make a call. Don’t die before I get back.” 

“All right.” Peter mutters into the over sized pillow, already half asleep. 

It only takes one call to Pepper to get Peter’s class trip extended for four more days. She puts them up in a fancy hotel. She books some tours to keep them occupied while Peter recovers. It’s not the European trip they’d hoped for, Happy is sure, but he figures that those kids deserve something for being pulled around all of creation by Nick Fury. 

Besides, he also knows that Peter would rather fly home with his classmates so, if for nothing else, that chance to sit with his new girlfriend like the love sick puppy he was. 

After hanging up with Pepper, Happy finds said kid burrowed down in the bed, cocooned in the thick blankets. He’s got them pulled up over his ears so that the only part of him visible to Happy is his thick mop of hair, curled from his shower. 

Happy sits on the bed and goes along with the urge to pull the blankets away from Peter’s face. It’s an old habit, born from watching Morgan when she was a baby and reading one too many articles about infants suffocating themselves on bed sheets. 

He watches the kid breathe, his chest steadily rising up and down just like it should. He stays long enough that it’s probably considered creepy but it helps ease the knot of anxiety that’d been growing since he picked the kid up in that tulip field. 

Happy wants until he’s absolutely sure that the kid won’t stop breathing in his sleep before he gets himself a drink. It almost feels wrong, pouring a drink from a dead man’s secret liquor stash but Happy thinks if Tony were here, he’d cut him a break. In fact, he’d probably have one right along with him. 

Peter ends up sleeping for a whole day. It’s not until dinnertime the next day that he stumbles into the living room where Happy is, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with one hand and holding his wrecked suit with the other. The cut on his face is now a thin bruised line, and he’s not limping nearly as bad as yesterday. 

He stops just short of the couch that Happy’s sitting on, picking at the Chinese takeout he’d ordered the night before. He looks down at the tattered suit sadly then back at Happy. “I think it’s ruined.” 

“Yeah.” Happy agrees, eyeing it. He’s confident that there’s no fixing it. It’s more scraps than suit. He stands up and heads to the kitchen, quickly fixing the kid a plate of food. “It’s all right though.” He tells Peter over his shoulder. “You can make a new one at the compound when we get home.” 

He tries to hand Peter the plate, but the kid ignores it. “Yeah?” He asks instead. 

“Sure.” Happy answers, a little surprised that he still has to reassure the kid of stuff like that. Especially considering that he just let him use Tony’s equipment the day before. 

He sits back down on the couch, waiting for Peter to get the hint to sit and eat but Peter keeps standing. He shuffles his feet a bit and a tiny frown pops up between his brows as he bunches the stained material in his hands. 

“Happy,” Peter starts timidly, still looking down at the suit. “Did you mean all that stuff you said on the jet? About Tony?” 

“Of course.” 

The words are causal but Happy tries to pour all the affection he feels for the kid in front of him into them. He should say more. Tony would probably have an inspirational speech or anecdote at the ready, but Happy isn’t wired like that. He’s still a bit raw from their heart to heart on the jet, if he’s being honest. 

But he tries his best to get how he feels across in his own way and it must work because the kid’s almost healed spilt lip pulls up into a smile. He throws himself down beside Happy and finally accepts the plate of food and rambles on about anything that pops into his mind. 

“Hurry up and get dressed.” Happy tells him as he’s finishing his third helping. “You and your girlfriend have a private Jack the Ripper tour in an hour.” 

Peter perks up at that. “Seriously? That’s awesome. MJ’s going to love that.” He gushes and leaps off the couch. He starts to head back upstairs but stops and turns back around. 

And, for an instant, he looks like Tony. There’s a gleam in his eyes that Tony would sometimes get if he thought he was asking too much of Happy or if he was being particularly difficult. Like he just couldn’t believe that he was worthy of having people that loved him surrounding him. 

Happy hated seeing it in Tony and it hurts even more to see it on Peter’s young face. He’ll fix it though, Happy decides. Maybe he couldn’t with Tony but he will with Peter. 

Then the kid says: “Thanks Happy. For everything.” with such sincerity that Happy has to swallow around the sudden lump in his throat to answer. 

“Anytime, Spider-Man.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and love you guys!
> 
> Come visit me on [ tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/awwcoffee92) <3


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